Xavier’s MakerBot Innovation Center Brings 3D Printing to Xavier
Community and Creates Local Hub for Innovation, Learning and
Entrepreneurialism

CINCINNATI — (BUSINESS WIRE) — February 4, 2015 —
Xavier University recently signed an agreement with MakerBot,
a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry, to bring a MakerBot®
Innovation Center to the university’s campus. Xavier University
joins a growing number of universities throughout the country that offer
MakerBot Innovation Centers, which are designed to empower organizations
to innovate faster, collaborate better and compete more effectively.
Xavier is the first university in the Midwest and the first private
college in the United States to implement a MakerBot Innovation Center.
MakerBot is providing the consulting, technical support and training
required to implement the MakerBot Innovation Center and will work
closely with Xavier’s faculty to develop a curriculum that introduces
professors and students to the world of 3D printing and its real-time
possibilities.

The MakerBot Innovation Center at Xavier is designed to create an environment in which entrepreneurialism, education and innovation can be cultivated and encouraged in the Cincinnati area and beyond. (Photo: Business Wire)

MakerBot is excited to join Xavier University for the grand opening of
the MakerBot Innovation Center on February 4, 2015. Students,
parents, business partners and community members are invited to take a
tour of the new MakerBot Innovation Center during an open house from
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The opening ceremony will start at 4:30 p.m. with
a blessing by Xavier’s 34th president, Father Michael J. Graham, S.J.,
followed by speeches from University staff and MakerBot president Frank
Alfano.

“We’re so excited to be the first private institution in the country and
the first university in the Midwest region to partner with MakerBot,”
said Shawn Nason, chief innovation officer with Xavier University. “Our
mission at Xavier University is to educate our students so that they are
able to make the world a better place. We’re positioned
to do just that with the unique 3D printing and prototyping technology
of MakerBot! With these innovative MakerBot Replicator 3D Printers, we
will transform how our students learn here at the Xavier Center for
Innovation and beyond. With MakerBot, we’ll not only be ‘making’ 3D
objects in our classrooms, but helping shape the leaders and innovators
of future industries as well.”

The MakerBot Innovation Center at Xavier is a custom, centralized and
scalable 3D printing solution that has been developed to meet the
specific needs of the university. It is designed to create an
environment in which entrepreneurialism, education and innovation can be
cultivated and encouraged in the Cincinnati area and beyond. With the
MakerBot Innovation Center, students, faculty and the community are
provided opportunities to collaborate on Real-Time Prototyping™,
model making and small-scale creative and manufacturing projects. This
provides a unique way to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow by
putting them at the forefront of technology and giving them access to a
thriving community of innovators. With dedicated spaces for startups and
networking, the MakerBot Innovation Center at Xavier is designed to
attract local entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers. It will serve
as a local innovation hub where students from different academic
disciplines can gain invaluable hands-on experience by collaborating
with entrepreneurs and researchers on real-world projects.

“The MakerBot Innovation Center has garnered huge interest since we
first introduced the concept last year, and we’re excited that Xavier
University has decided to work with us to unleash the creative potential
of 3D printing on its campus and in the Cincinnati area. The passion for
innovation and 3D printing at Xavier is contagious and we can’t wait to
see what comes out of their MakerBot Innovation Center,” noted Jenny
Lawton, CEO of MakerBot. “We’re particularly thrilled to provide the
team at Xavier with Consulting from MakerBot to help develop a
curriculum that integrates 3D printing. This is an important step that
will help introduce more students, community members and entrepreneurs
to the idea of 3D printing and how this technology can help them
visualize and memorize complex theoretical concepts, gain hands-on
experience and unleash their creativity.”

MakerBot is a leader in the desktop 3D printing industry and was founded
in 2009 as one of the first companies to bring 3D printing to an
accessible and affordable level. 3D printing has been around for close
to 30 years, but up until 2009, the industry typically offered large
mainframe-sized 3D printers that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
MakerBot changed that equation by introducing desktop 3D printers.
MakerBot now has one of the largest install bases and market shares of
the desktop 3D printing industry, with more than 80,000 MakerBot 3D
printers in the world and a robust MakerBot 3D Ecosystem that combines
hardware, software, apps, materials, training, support, consulting,
retail stores and partnerships in order to make 3D printing easy and
accessible for everyone.